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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 GUANGZHOU 020888 
 
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TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL SCUL SOCI CH
SUBJECT: Rise in Number of Middle Easterners: Threat or 
Benefit to Guangdong? 
 
REF: A) Guangzhou 18749 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.  NOT FOR RELEASE OUTSIDE U.S. 
GOVERNMENT CHANNELS.  NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Over the past five years, the number of 
Middle Eastern businessmen in Guangdong Province has 
exploded to an estimated 7,000 (the majority coming from 
Yemen, Jordan and Syria).  Additionally, during the Canton 
Trade Fair, as many as 11,000 Middle Eastern visitors flood 
the city's now numerous Middle Eastern restaurants.  Both 
professional and personal frustrations with discrimination 
from the Chinese government, however, have encouraged all 
three of the major Middle Eastern groups to want to create 
business associations to protect the rights of their 
communities.  Most of the Middle Easterners we met are 
suspicious of their Muslim Chinese brethren (especially 
those from Xinjiang), and prefer to focus on business, 
rather than religious and political issues.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Since the Tang Dynasty, Muslim traders have been 
visiting Guangdong Province.  More recently, in the 1990s, 
Middle Eastern businessmen came to Southeast Asia and, 
following the Asian Financial Crisis, to South China for 
business opportunities.  In the past five years, cheap 
consumer goods from China have flooded Middle Eastern 
markets.  According to the Ministry of Commerce, From 
January to February 2006, Guangdong's exports to the Middle 
East reached USD 940 million, up 37.4 percent from the same 
period of last year, accounting for 19.7 percent of China's 
total exports to the Middle East.  Major destination 
countries for Guangdong's exports include the United Arab 
Emirates, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.  Poloff met with 
businessmen from Yemen, Jordan and Syria to learn about the 
background and goals of this recent flood of Middle Eastern 
businessmen. 
 
Background on Foreigners in Guangzhou 
------------------------------------- 
¶3.  (SBU) It is difficult to estimate Guangdong Province's 
exact foreign population, since a large portion of expats 
are transient businesspeople and the Chinese government is 
reluctant to reveal its own data.  For example, in mid-2005, 
the Guangdong Foreign Affairs Office refused a petition from 
the Guangzhou Consular corps to reveal statistics on 
foreigners in South China.  Only in September 2005, 
following minor break-ins on the Polish and U.S. Consulates 
in Guangzhou, did the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB) 
reveal statistics on foreigners in Guangzhou.  The Guangzhou 
PSB stated that Guangzhou has 15,000 foreign residents and 2 
million foreign visitors annually. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) According to the chief editor of "That's PRD" (the 
leading expat magazine for South China), these numbers are 
too low.  The editor estimated that Macau and Zhuhai 
together have about 14,000 foreigners, and Guangzhou has 
about 50,000-60,000 foreigners (if Hong Kong and Taiwan 
residents are included, the number is closer to 100,000). 
The editor said that unquestionably, the Middle Eastern 
population, estimated at about 15 percent of the total 
foreign population, is the fastest growing segment in all of 
South China. 
 
The Guangdong Middle Eastern Community 
-------------------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) According to the Guangdong Muslim Association 
(GMA), Guangdong Province has between 10,000-15,000 foreign 
Muslims, mostly in Guangzhou and Shenzhen (see ref A), of 
which, about 7,000 are from the Middle East.  During the bi- 
annual Canton Trade Fair, a local Guangzhou magazine 
reported that as many as 11,000 Middle Easterners come to 
Guangzhou.  Based on various Consulate sources, the largest 
number of Middle Eastern businessmen in Guangdong Province 
come from (in order) Yemen, Jordan (some of whom are 
actually Palestinian) and Syria.  A smaller group of traders 
come from Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Many of these traders have made a certain section 
of downtown Guangzhou as their business headquarters. 
According to a Jordanian source, Guangzhou's Fuli Business 
Centre, near several wholesale markets, has become known as 
the "Arabic Center" with over 170 Middle Eastern businesses 
in the building alone.  In order to gain more leverage 
against the Chinese government and fight against local 
 
GUANGZHOU 00020888  002 OF 004 
 
 
discrimination, Yemenis, Jordanians, and Syrians, have all 
have sought to create business associations, though so far 
unsuccessfully.  In contrast, the Israeli Chamber of 
Commerce recently established itself with only three 
members. 
 
Explosion of Middle Eastern Restaurants 
--------------------------------------- 
¶7.  (SBU) One important indicator of increased Middle 
Eastern business in Guangdong Province is the rapid surge of 
new Muslim restaurants.  The Guangdong Muslim Association 
reports Guangdong Province has several thousand Muslim 
restaurants, both large and small, including around 200 
Xinjiang restaurants in Guangzhou City.  Foreign Muslims 
have opened approximately 100 Arabic restaurants in 
Guangdong.  Only a few years ago there was only one halal 
(Islamic kosher) restaurant in Guangzhou City, now there are 
18, including cuisine from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey. 
For example, a Syrian restaurant across the street from 
Guangzhou's "Arabic Center" grew from a terrace-style caf 
to a multiple room restaurant in only a few years.  A Syrian 
restaurant owner (with restaurants in Guangzhou and Yiwu, 
Zhejiang), however, said the restaurant business is good, 
but unsteady.  Guangzhou's restaurant profits are greatly 
dependent on the influx of travelers during the bi-annual 
Canton Trade Fair, because local Chinese do not usually 
frequent these restaurants.  In Yiwu, the restaurant owner 
said, trade with Muslim countries is less dependent on 
annual fairs and Middle Eastern restaurants are more 
profitable. 
 
Yemenis, Jordanians and Syrians 
------------------------------- 
¶8.  (SBU) The largest and most organized group of Middle 
Easterners is from Yemen.  A Yemeni/naturalized-Canadian 
citizen, who is also the honorary Yemeni trade consul in 
Guangzhou, told Poloff there are around 1,000 Yemenis 
businesses in Guangdong.  The SCMP estimated the entire 
Yemenis community at around 5,000 people.  In 2005, Yemenis 
businessmen tried to better organize their community through 
data collection and training for newly-arrived traders.  Led 
by the honorary trade consul, the Yemenis held three large 
meetings in Guangzhou with their trade minister and 
ambassador to China.  The meetings were eventually shut-down 
because the Chinese government claimed the group need a 
permit to assemble such a large number of people (around 
200).  Instead, Yemenis businesspeople meet informally and 
consult new members of the community about business and 
social life in South China. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The second biggest group are the Jordanians, 
estimated at around 1,000 businesses.  The Jordanians are 
currently seeking to create a Jordanian Chamber of Commerce 
to organize the community and better represent their rights. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Syrian numbers are smaller than the other two 
groups.  The Syrian restaurateur and clothing trader said 
the Syrians tried to create a Syrian business association 
but the project failed.  According to the restaurant owner, 
the business association failed because, first, many of the 
businessmen were too busy.  Second, the government was very 
suspicious of Arab businessmen and, according to the 
restaurant owner, the government "did not want them to form 
a group."  Instead the Syrians meet informally to discuss 
the business climate. 
 
Government Harassment: "Worse than Illegal Chinese 
Businesses" 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
¶11.  (SBU) All of the businessmen agreed that there is great 
distrust and discrimination by the Chinese government and 
local Chinese businesses toward Middle Easterners. 
Consequently most of the businessmen prefer to give the top 
management positions in their firms to family members or 
other Middle Easterners.  However they generally said they 
would avoid hiring Xinjiang Muslims to work in their 
businesses. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) One businessman surveyed said that legal Middle 
Eastern businesses, at times, "receive worse treatment then 
illegal Chinese businesses."  In general the businessmen 
complained of unsupportive protection from the Chinese 
Public Security Bureau (PSB).  For example, the Yemenis 
trade consul said that he had tried to report cases of 
Yemenis businessmen being kidnapped by their creditors or 
 
GUANGZHOU 00020888  003 OF 004 
 
 
professional bill collectors.  Yemeni leaders had tried 
unsuccessfully to start a dialogue with the authorities by 
such means as contacting the China Council for Promotion of 
International Trade and the Guangzhou Police's economic 
crime division.  The PSB were unwilling to take such cases, 
claiming they are business transaction cases and should be 
handled by the courts.  Thus the Yemenis trade consul was 
forced to seek help from the Yemenis Embassy in Beijing.  In 
November 2005, as reported in Hong Kong press, Guangzhou 
police stopped more than 200 businessmen from the city's 
Yemeni community from meeting at a hotel because the group 
did not have approval for a mass gathering. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) In another example, the Yemenis trade consul 
himself was personally threatened by Chinese thugs to give 
up 50,000 RMB ($6,250 USD).  His only recourse was to tape 
record the "shake-down" conversation and threaten that the 
Canadian and U.S. Consulates in Guangzhou (because of his 
Canadian citizenship and his children's U.S. citizenship) 
had great influence in China and would protect his company 
at all cost. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) The Syrian restaurant owner complained of regular 
"inspections" by police carrying cameras at restaurants and 
cafes frequented by customers from the Middle East 
(particularly during the Trade Fair).  Besides increased 
surveillance, the Syrian businessman also complained that he 
personally could only get visas for a maximum of five 
months.  Moreover, he claimed that Guangzhou government had 
a quota of only 50 foreign chefs who are allowed to work in 
the city. 
 
Mafia and Corruption 
-------------------- 
¶15.  (SBU) The businessmen surveyed also revealed some of 
the corruption and dangers of the lucrative South China 
manufacturing world.  The Jordanian contact said if his 
company has problems, they usually cannot rely on the 
police.  Instead, he claimed, they must call "the Chinese 
mafia" to threaten the individuals causing trouble.  The 
prices vary, but generally the mafia prefers "in-kind 
transfers", such as an invitation to KTV (karaoke) bars, 
jewelry, and cars.  The Syrian restaurant owner also 
described how bribes are a fact of business.  The man matter- 
of-factly opened his desk drawer and pulled out wad of 
awaiting envelopes with bribes inside (the so-called 
"hongbao").  The Syrian man said that even Syrian diplomats 
in Beijing are so tempted by profits in the Pearl River 
Delta that they have their own trading companies, in 
violation of Syrian laws. 
 
Religious and Family Life 
------------------------- 
¶16.  (SBU) Increasingly many of the Middle Eastern 
businessmen are hoping to settle in Guangdong Province and 
bring their families with them.  Middle Eastern businessmen, 
like many expats, would like ideally to create a religious 
and social environment similar to their home countries.  In 
reality, China's strict laws on religious freedom and 
religious education, limits their activities. For example, 
Guangdong Province has a limited number of mosques. 
Guangzhou City has only three mosques and one ancient tomb. 
Shenzhen, a city of nine million, has only one mosque.  The 
Guangdong Province Muslim Association has complained to the 
Chinese Muslim Association headquarters in Beijing that 
Guangdong's 11 imams are insufficient (reftel).  Newspaper 
reports have mentioned overflowing mosques during Friday 
prayers, especially during the Canton Trade Fair.  The 
Syrian restaurant owner complained there no children 
services at mosques he had visited.  Some Middle Eastern 
restaurants have tried to fill this void by building small, 
unofficial mosques and carpeted pray areas inside their 
restaurants.  Some of these underground-type groups have 
been closed down by the Chinese government.  One such 
restaurant owner complained to the Yemenis trade consul 
about the situation.  The trade consul, replying 
pragmatically, said a Muslim can pray anywhere, anytime, and 
that creating hidden mosques was too great a risk. 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Religious and Arabic education is also limited. 
There are no Islamic institutions of higher education in 
South China.  In terms of children's education, only one 
mosque in Guangzhou teaches Arabic.  An informal Jordanian 
school also exists, but some Jordanians avoid it since 
teachers are mostly Jordanian businessmen's spouses with no 
 
GUANGZHOU 00020888  004 OF 004 
 
 
pedagogical training or set curriculum.   Consequently, some 
Jordanian businessmen have sought to improve the situation. 
The Jordanians are planning to first, establish a business 
association to organize their community, second, create 
official Jordanian and Arabic schools for their children, 
and third, bring Jordanian doctors from home to create 
Arabic hospitals and clinics. 
 
Relations with Local Muslims 
---------------------------- 
¶18.  (SBU) Relations with local Muslims are poor if non- 
existent.  Except for occasional meetings at Friday prayers 
in mosques (foreigners and Chinese allowed to worship 
together), most of the businessmen said they preferred to 
avoid the local Muslims, although the Jordanians did employ 
a Hui Muslim woman.  Some of the Middle Eastern restaurants 
employ only Hui Muslims, since they are more suitable for 
halal cuisine, while others merely have their female staff 
wear head coverings.  None of the businessmen said they had 
ever visited or used the services of the Guangdong Province 
Muslim Association.  The businessmen particularly did not 
get along with Xinjiang Muslims.  The businessmen called 
Xinjiang people "gangsters" and "knife-carrying hooligans". 
One of the Jordanian contacts said that in certain areas of 
Guangzhou City, even the police are afraid of interfering in 
Xinjiang people's problems.  This same Jordanian had an 
encounter with two Xinjiang men when they tried to steal his 
bag on the way to his office.  He called the police, who 
claimed they could not help until violence had actually 
occurred. 
 
¶19.  (SBU) The businessmen surveyed also did not acknowledge 
any significant Muslim missionary work by Middle Eastern 
businessmen.  Instead they argued most businesspeople were 
solely focused on making money in China.  Nevertheless, a 
noted American scholar on the subject wrote to Poloff that 
"large numbers of Yemenis [in South China] merit watching as 
they have been doing a lot of missionary work and have been 
supportive of Salafi [fundamentalist Chinese Muslims] 
groups." 
 
Comment: Money more than Mohammed 
--------------------------------- 
¶20.  (SBU) In 2002, Guangzhou received some attention when 
the Asia Wall Street Journal reported that an Egyptian and 
two Yemeni nationals, were cited as having started an Al- 
Qaeda web site called maalemaljihad.com.  Nevertheless, the 
significant rise in the number of Middle Easterners in 
Guangdong Province seems less a symbol of a rising terror 
threat in South China and more a symbol of the powerful 
manufacturing sector in the Pearl River Delta.  The 
businessmen surveyed seemed focused on creating the most 
profit for themselves and not ideologically bent on a 
religious mission or nefarious activities in China.  A more 
ideologically driven element could exist in Guangdong 
Province, however, Post has no accurate way of measuring 
this nor did our interlocturs said they were not aware of 
such groups.  In fact, many of the businessmen seemed to 
have poor relations with local Muslims.  Instead, like many 
expats, they would like to insulate themselves from the 
Chinese and create their own institutions (schools, mosques, 
hospitals, etc.) that would emulate their lifestyles in the 
Middle East. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) The experience of the Middle Easterners is also 
reflective of the current investment climate in South China. 
Many Middle Eastern small and medium size-businesses in 
China still face difficulties working through the often 
corrupt and Byzantine-like Chinese bureaucracy.  Unlike 
their U.S. or British counterparts working in multi-national 
corporations, many of these Middle Eastern businessmen feel 
"alone" in China, since they are independent traders.  In 
South China, there are no Middle Eastern business 
associations or diplomatic representation.  Therefore, the 
Middle Easterners are seeking to organize themselves (at 
least as national groupings, since there is no hope of a Pan- 
Arab union) to create a more unified and powerful voice of 
protection. 
 
MARTIN